Technical Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a channel substrate, a method of producing the channel substrate, a liquid discharge head, an ink cartridge, and a liquid discharge apparatus.
Related Art
A liquid discharge head (droplet discharge head) is known that includes a channel substrate in which individual channels are formed. For such a liquid discharge head, voltage is applied to a pressure generator, such as a piezoelectric element, to bend (expand and contract) the pressure generator. Accordingly, the volume of the pressurization chamber is changed to change the pressure in the pressurization chamber, thus discharging liquid, such as ink, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sample, and liquid resist. The individual channel includes, e.g., a nozzle orifice and a pressurization chamber (individual liquid chamber). In other words, the pressurization chamber constitutes part of the individual channels and the nozzle orifice constitutes part of the individual channel.
An image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, a plotter, and a multifunction peripheral having at least two of the foregoing capabilities, may include a liquid discharge head to discharge recording liquid, e.g., ink. For example, a serial-type image forming apparatus includes a carriage mounting a recording head constituted of the liquid discharge head. The serial-type image forming apparatus causes the carriage to serially scan in a direction perpendicular to a direction of conveyance of a recording medium (hereinafter, simply referred to as “sheet”) and intermittently feeds the sheet according to the width of recording. By repeating the recording and feeding operations, the serial-type image forming apparatus forms an image on the sheet. A line-type image forming apparatus is also known that includes a line-type recording head having an increased number of nozzles per head.
There is demand for higher speed and higher image quality in the field of such an image forming apparatus. In particular, for the line-type recording head, there is demand for increasing the length of the recording head to increase the number of nozzles per head and form a complex channel shape.
There is also demand for cost reduction while increasing the length of the recording head. As the material of the nozzle pate, a metal material or a resin material is widely used because of relative easiness of the adaptation to the increase of the head length.